Greece can't make changes to detriment of other Europeans: German Vice-Chancellor

German Vice Chancellor, Economy and Energy Minister Sigmar Gabriel addresses a news conference to present his annual economic report in Berlin on Jan 28, 2015. The new Greek government cannot make dramatic changes to its economic policy and expect other European states to foot the bill, German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday. -- PHOTO: AFP

BERLIN (AFP/REUTERS) - The new Greek government cannot make dramatic changes to its economic policy and expect other European states to foot the bill, German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday.

"All citizens of Europe must be able to expect that changes in Greek policy will not be made to their detriment," Mr Gabriel, who is also Germany's economy minister, told Parliament.

He added that Greece should not burden the rest of Europe with its internal political debates, and the country's own inequalities were to blame for problems that it tried to blame on its multilateral lenders.

Mr Gabriel told Parliament that Greece should stay in the euro, but the new leftist leader Alexis Tsipras must respect the terms of its bailout.

Greece could not blame the "troika" of multilateral lenders for its own unfair distribution of wealth, he said. "All democratic people must respect the democratic decision of voters and a newly elected government's right to decide its course - but the rest of Europe's citizens should not have to expect changes in Greek politics to burden them," he said.

The Straits Times

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